Humble Beginnings

This is the first blog of many for the support group over at http://www.reddit.com/r/90daysgoal. My name is Gingryu and I am one of the Moderators over at 90daysgoal. I have personally been with the group since the beginning and was asked to be a mod later on in the early rounds. I have been on my fitness journey for about two years now. I started at 215lbs and 30% body fat. Currently I am sitting at 180lbs and 11.5% body fat. Along the way I have changed and tried a lot of different diets along with exercise routines. Everything from HIIT to Starting Strength to Convict Conditioning has kept me active and strong. I have tried diets from Paleo to low carb to Ketogenic to just simple calorie counting. Over these two years I have taken a special interest in really understanding the whats, hows, and whys that are involved in achieving my goals. I say these things not to sit and brag but to let you know I have been around the block and failed and achieved on many levels.

Next let me give you a heads up for what this blog is about. The blog will be my chance to do some research for anyone who has any questions they would like answered. I will get a chance to explore and detail things for you about the basics of dieting and exercise and changing your life for the better. So always feel free to contact the Mods or me personally about topics you would like to see covered. With enough ideas I would even be available to do this more than once per week. Currently I am going to aim for a Friday blog each week so people have some motivation to go through the weekend and keep a level head about their goals. If you have any questions about the information I post or the science behind something I am more than happy to look into it for you. Just shoot me a PM.

Alright I’m done with the intro.

So check it. Its day 26 of Round 5 for 90daysgoal. You are going along your daily routine and everything is going well. Except work sucked today. Your boss decided that keeping his voice at a yell was plausible and that you were his target. So much work. So much stress. Why in the world would anyone go and workout after that. I just want to get home and curl up with my bf/gf/blanket/beer. (I personally see each of these things as equals after a day like that)

ARE YOU READING MY MIND?

No. I just know about the stress of life and trying to stick to your goals. Your motivation to keep going during times like these is non-existent. This right here is the situation everyone is going to meet time and time again during their journey for a skinny ass, huge biceps, abs of steel. So let’s take a look at motivation and how to find some. (Not found in Wal-Mart for once)

Your journey like most people started with some kind of epiphany, act of god, or requirement for a movie role. HA. Please let’s get real. We are all fat individuals who want to get tiny or skinny who want to get swole. There is no shame in this and that first day when you knew you needed to fix this there was a wave of motivation in our lives. We went and we did and we cried about how difficult it was. But we knew it was for the best and after those 15 minutes of work we realized this stuff is hard!

WASN’T THAT ENOUGH?!

Nope. Whatever you have to achieve is not going to come simply and you are going to need to work hard for it. Now you may be able to keep going for the entire time and reach your goals. Some people are blessed with this kind of motivation and discipline. Most aren’t.

WELL THEN FIX ME.

We will. My personal belief is that motivation is your desire to achieve something you want or desire. Screw webster I have no clue what the real definition of motivation is but I will let you in on a secret. I think motivation only needs to be gotten once. That first day when you needed to change your life was everything you needed to reach your goals. The goal isn’t to FIND more motivation but to use the motivation you have and keep it going. Motivation feels like something that comes and goes in waves and is in limited supply. But honestly we just need to stop for a second and look at it from the right perspective.

You already want something out of your fitness journey. By using our guide for getting started and setting goals you know how to do it. The hard part is sticking with it. So let’s break it down and look at different things to help keep ourselves motivated.

Realize that one day you can and will achieve your goal. This is a process about changing your life. You are in no rush and the goal you set will happen. You might have to make some adjustments, you might need to try some different things but any goal you set for yourself is obtainable. You don’t need to get down about how you’ll never do it. With a community like ours and the resources we can provide for you there is nothing you can’t do with a little hard work.

Failure is inevitable. I don’t want you to go around thinking that reaching these goals requires absolute perfection. Understand that a failure just means it is something you need to work on and keep going. A lot of people talk about this stupid horse.

WHCH ONE?

The one that everyone gets on but always falls off of? That one. I imagine he would look like this. A failure isn’t falling off of the horse. Nothing is ruined when you fail. The only time failure is real is when you stop everything you are doing to reach your goals. Even if you are only dieting, only exercising, or simply eating more vegetables you are still working towards the goal and that’s progress. Don’t let a little failure get you down. Its normal and everyone does it.

You have help! Now I could understand if you thought you were alone in this and there is no way you can do it without help but if you are currently reading this you have a ton of help. You have all of the resources available you could ask for. Between the mods, community, and other fitness subreddits you have so much info its stupid.

So let’s look at that real quick:

One day I will achieve my goal. Failure is inevitable but I have help.

If someone told me that they had a chore for me, had help if needed, and any amount of time to reach it would I ever consider there a possibility of complete failure? Not a chance. So think about your goals this way. You don’t need more motivation. Just realize that one day you will achieve your goal. Failure is inevitable but you have help.

Its only day 26. There is plenty of time left in the round. So keep your head up, keep doing what you need to do and if you need help let us know. At this point you can overcome anything because you will achieve your goal. The only thing you don’t know is when. No point in stopping now, is there?

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I do not even remotely pretend to be. Please take all advice at your own risk.